Vacation Details

Day 1

By the time all family members gathered at the resort, it was around 3:00pm. By then, we folks from CA had refreshed... so I decided to welcome the rest with some cool water melon. We all exchanged pleasantaries and relaxed for a while. We decided to hit the beach in the evening. With sun cream lotion, a tent, frizby and swim tanks we headed to the beach. The weather could not have been better and so could not the beach. Being used to the cold California beaches, the warm water beach at the island was a welcome change. Reminded me a lot of the Chennai beaches I had been to with my family back home. All of us had a great time ... some liked getting
soaked in the water especially my little one. I simply enjoyed watching her and playing in the sand. One another cousin of mine had a son a little older than my daughter .... he was a little hesistant in getting into the water and preferred to practice soccer. He is just over 2.5 years and appeared to be quite good at it. After some frizby and quite time, we headed home for a simple dinner. We were all so tired and hungry that plain "Saaru / Anna" (Rasam rice) felt divine. Soon, we hit the bed... it had been a long day for us folks from California.

Day 2

The next day, we woke up late (8:30am) ... you see we were in a relaxed vacation mood. The east coast folks had already woken up and were sipping their coffee in the patio. They advised us that they had seen an amazing
sunrise and we should experience the same. Being nature freaks, we weren't going to miss out on that. We decided to visit the beach early the next day morning for the sun rise. We had a hearty breakfast (dose and gojju avalakki) and decided to soak in the pool.... off we went to the resort swimmin pool. Initially I was hesitant to get into the pool ... but could not decline my little one's plea... she was having such a great time and I wanted to be a part of it too ! It was so much fun in the water. Cousin S suggested ice cream and all of us headed ice creaming hunting. We reached the island downtime in the process and found a nice ice cream shop. I had Fudge Brownie and it was simply awesome. Another cousin M suggested kite flying and we bought some kites at the down town. We spent some more time at the downtown and went back to the resort. After a nice tea, we decide to go to the beach for kite flying. We were hoping that the kids would enjoy kite flying .... but they seem have more fun in the sand with the pail and shovel. After some fun time at the beach, we went to the downtown for the dinner. We reached a nicely done restaurant ... the ambience of the place was good ...food was as good. It was an OK thai dinner. We went back to the resort and hit the bed soon.

Day 3

As per our plan, we woke up early for the sun rise ... I could hardly sleep as I could simply not trust the alarm. (of course, the alarm did not alert us at all) We reached the beach at 5:45am .... perfect time for the sun rise. The sun rise was absolutely brialliant and it had a been a long time since I had seen one as amazing. We went back to the resort and prepared breakfast. (uppit). We lazed around the house before we went out to checkout kayaking. After a lot of searching, we found a place later in the day where they offered kayaking rentals. My sister and me decided to take turns to take care of my little one. First she went kayaking with her husband. They had a real testing time when the got stuck in the mud and had a hard time coming out. By the time they came out, it was early evening ... besides their experience was not very encouraging for us give a try. So we decided against it. So headed back to the resort. We spent some more time at the pool and then went home for a nice coffee. The rest day was spent in beach volleyball and sand castle building and sea shell collection.

Day 4

It was time to bid good bye to everyone ... our initial plan was to go to the airport and return the car by 11:30am ... but we changed our plans in order for us experience kayaking. Me and my spouse went kayaking while my sister watched my child. I would catagorize kayaking as a team building activity ... initially our team was not so great and we landed in the grassy marsh. We soon figured our rhythm and had a good time. It was exhausting though! We went back to the resort for a family lunch before saying good bye to all the cousins from the east coast. Drove back to the airport and returned the car and reached the airport at the right time.

Overall the family vacation was a refreshing experience .... as my sister's husband rightly put it: "Idea of a vacation in India is usually visiting places and going sight seeing .... idea of vacation in US is just escaping to a quiet place" This time we relaxed in our US vacation idea!